


Barb and Beej

by LordSweet



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Barbara helps him, Beetlejuice has mommy issues, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22531276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordSweet/pseuds/LordSweet
Summary: Barbara asks Beetlejuice to help her baking. Then surprisingly (or not) this reveals some issues from Beetlejuice.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Barbara Maitland
Comments: 5
Kudos: 142





	Barb and Beej

The first thing that brought him in the kitchen was the smell. The second thing was Barbara. She was cooking dinner for tonight as it was often the case. It became one of the habits in this weird family. Barbara and Adam, the ghosts of the house, could not eat but liked to cook. So the couple passed their time in the kitchen and this time it was Barbara's turn. Surely because her sexy husband was too busy doing something else.  
Barbara, with a cute apron and her hair tied back, and mixing some pasta and herbs in front of the worktop. While him, Beetlejuice, was beside her, watching in silence. Not like he was stalking her. They lived in the same house after all, it was normal right? But nothing was normal when you were a demon.  
"I can't do it." said Barbara after a sigh.  
She sounded... Sad? But he never saw Barbs sad! He felt the need to do something, but did not know what. So he simply walked carefully to her. But when Barbara could feel his presence, she jumped on his feet anyway.  
"Oh Beej!” Barbara turned to him. “You scared me!"  
"Yeah, I usually have this effect on people."  
Whether he wanted it or not.  
"So what are you doing babe?"  
"I'm failing. Well actually I've already failed."  
"What? Don't say that! I know it will be good! Your cooking is always good. And I love it!"  
"Beej. You eat bugs and trash, it's not a compliment."  
"Your cooking still smells good to me."  
"Wait. You can smell it?"  
"of course I can! Smell and taste! Why would I even eat if I couldn't?"  
"But I thought... Because we... You know..."  
"Dead? Yeah. You can't. But I'm a dead demon. So I can. It's my little privilege. Except I always forgot to eat. So I just eat what I can find you know."  
"It's great!"  
"What? That my mother never gave me something to eat and let me starve?"  
"What? No... Wait. She did that? Oh. Do you want to talk about it?"  
"So what is great about me?" Said Beetlejuice totally ignored the question.  
"You can taste! You can be my taster!"  
"Your taster?"  
"Yes! I cook and you tell me if it is good."  
"So... My job is to eat? I'm great at eating things!"  
"I know!"  
They smiled at each other, both immediately enjoying this idea. Barbara took her plats and Beetlejuice sat in front of the worktop. Taping on it, he seemed impatient. It made Barbara laugh. She appreciated it. It was so innocent, the demon almost looked like a child. A child that, she decided now, would never have a mom who let him starve.

What started as a special event in their life had become a habit. Each week they had this one day, this little arrangement in the family. While Adam helped Lydia with his homework in her room, Barbara and Beetlejuice had the kitchen for themselves. As they had agreed, Barbara was the only one to cook and Beej tasted everything for her. But week after week, she noticed something about the demon.  
"Barb, what is that?" "Why do you do that?" "How long will it take?" "How many do you need?" he asked a lot of questions. And she really meant a lot. Every time she was cooking. And it was adorable to her because she had never seen him so curious before. Sadly she could not even responded to everything, too busy at cooking. So one of these days, Barbara had an idea.  
"If you want me to teach you to cook, you need to do it with me."  
"What?" He said surprised.  
It was after another of his questions, so yes he was logically surprised. But Barbara smiled and handed a bowl at him.  
"Take this and mix it. We need dough to make cookies."  
"I'm not cooking."  
Of course he would say that. She knew he wanted to try, he would not ask so many questions otherwise. He simply did not want to admit it.  
"You don't have a choice." she said with authority. "Today you are cooking with me now young man."  
He sighed and rolled his eyes.  
"Alright MOM."  
He made obvious he was upset, but she smiled anyway. Because a person really upset would not be as immediately focused in their work as he was.  
After some minutes, the dough was ready. Barbara gently took back the bowl from Beetlejuice's hands and proceeded to make cookies. Or at least one, to show how it was done.  
"It's simple." she said kindly while making an example. "You take just a little from the dough and make a round. Not too much or too small. Then you put some shards of chocolates where you want. And you do it again with another cookie. I'll bake it when you are finished."  
She handed him the bowl again, but he was making a face. As he was afraid of it.  
"You can do it I trust you!" She encouraged him.  
He seemed to hesitate again, not sure about it. Or more precisely, not sure about himself.  
"Don't worry Beej it's just cookies."  
He stayed silent, staring at the bowl. And finally, without a word, he took it and started to make cookies. Barbara felt she could now let him alone and decided to do the dishes during this time. Because they certainly had used many things in their cooking. And everything was a mess. She turned back to Beetlejuice, and each other took care of their duty. For at least a half hour.  
Until Barbara heard a big noise beside her. She got scared but rapidly understood. She turned on herself and saw the tray full of cookies on the floor. And on the wrong side, of course.  
But for now, Barbara did not care about it; she was more worried about Beetlejuice. He was not where to see. It was like... He had disappeared. And he was a demon, he could have in fact disappear anywhere.  
Except that she found him one second later, in a hallway, sitting against a wall. His legs against his chest, his head in his hands.  
"Beej?"  
He raised his head. His eyes were full of tears. He looked scared like a prey in front of a predator.  
"Please don't yell at me."  
"What?"  
He looked so fragile, so different from the Beetlejuice she knew. She did not understand what was happening. Or why.  
"I ruined your cookies." he said as it explained everything. "You must hate me."  
"Beej... I don't hate you."  
She tried approaching him, but it only made things worse. He begged in a scream.  
"Please no, please, don't punish me mom I'm sorry! I didn't want to..."  
His voice began to faint until he became silent and hid again in his hands. She stared at him. Barbara could almost feel her heart breaking in her chest. It was unbearable. Because she understood now. Even if she should have understood it earlier.  
She knelt down in front of him, still with some distance between them.  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, sorry, so sorry." repeated Beetlejuice.  
"Beej, listen, I'm not your mom."  
He raised his head again.  
"I know you're not my mom."  
"So you know I would never hurt you."  
She approached slowly, the demon dried his tears.  
"So cooking with you was not a trick?"  
"No, I really enjoy cooking with you and spending time together."  
She knew she needed to seem sure of her words, or Beetlejuice would not trust her. She continued approaching.  
"That what my mom also said." because he looked away, she lost eye contact with him. "She said she liked me, and then, when I made one mistake, she said I'm a failure and wished I was never born."  
She put her hand on his knees. Beetlejuice looked at her again. He was clearly surprised to see her so close, but he said nothing about it.  
"She's wrong." Said Barbara. "You're not a failure. You're great. And everyone in this house like you. I like you."  
He looked down.  
"You know for... the cookies it was an accident I swear. I'm not good with my hands I shouldn't..."  
"Don't worry Lawrence I'm also clumsy sometimes. Everyone is. We'll make more cookies until you can do it yourself."  
He looked up again.  
"You promise?"  
"I promise."  
He smiled, Barbara smiled in return. Until Beetlejuice frowned at her.  
"Wait. Did you call me Lawrence?"  
"Well, it is your name, isn't?  
"Yeah but... It's bad."  
"Not as bad as Beetlejuice."  
"Yeah, true."  
He laughed. Barbara felt like his old self was come back. And she never thought she would miss it.  
"It's funny now I think about it." she said. "I could have named my son Lawrence."  
He laughed again.  
"Of you course you would! A name that bad and old! Yeah. Perfect for a little Maitland."  
"Lawrence Maitland." said Barbara aloud. "It sounds actually..."  
"Good." finished Beetlejuice.  
They looked at each other. Almost as they could know what the other was thinking. At least until they heard a new voice coming from the stairs.  
"Is everything ok down here?" asked Adam descending the stairs. "Why are you sitting on the floor you two?"  
When he arrived down the stairs, Beetlejuice got up and gave one big and magnificent response.  
"Barbara just adopted me!"  
And while Adam was very confused, Barbara giggled. Yes, maybe it was true. Maybe she just adopted this dead demon surely older than her. And even more oddly, she was fine with this idea. To simply take care of him.


End file.
